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Tom Woodhurst was born around 1827 to parents Thomas (1) Woodhurst and his wife Mercy Swadling. He was christened at Peasmarsh, Sussex on February 11th 1827 [Parish Register].
The 1841 Census finds him living at age 14 with his parents at Fagg Farm in Udimore.
He married Naomi Oliver in 1850. Their marriage certificate [Marriage Index: Rye VII 563, 1850 (March)] states that they married at Icklesham Parish Church on February 11th 1850. He is described as a bachelor (named here as Thomas) of full age and occupied as a bailiff, and she as a spinster of full age. He was then residing in Icklesham and she in Fairlight (no specific addresses cited). His father Thomas (1) is described as a bailiff and hers as a grocer named Thomas (1) Oliver. The witnesses were Thomas Oliver - probably Naomi's father or brother - and Ann Oliver, probably her sister. Naomi was born around 1826 in Fairlight [UK Census 1851, 1871].
Their first child Naomi was born at Icklesham later that year.
The 1851 Census finds the family living in Icklesham (no address cited). Tom was occupied, like his father, as a bailiff. Also in the household was a 12-year-old servant girl Mary Addy, born in Wittersham, believed to be Tom's niece by his married sister Mercy (2).
The 1851 Census finds Naomi (senior)'s parents and siblings living in Fairlight. Her mother Harriet, born in the 1790s in either Herstmonceux or Dallington, appears to have married twice, firstly to a man with surname Dawe and subsequently to Thomas (1) Oliver. The first marriage produced at least one child Jesse Dawe who appears in this 1851 record, described as Thomas (1) Oliver's son-in-law and yet unmarried, therefore actually (in modern-day parlance) his step-son.
Tom and Naomi produced more children at Icklesham and appear then to have moved first to Romsey and then to Portsea (both in Hampshire - Portsea later developed into today's Portsmouth), producing more children in those places as well.
The 1861 Census finds the family living at or near a Canal Works in Romsey Extra, Hampshire. Tom was now occupied as a police constable.
In 1862, when their child Jesse Oliver was born, they were living at 11, Carlisle Street in the Southsea/Landport subdistrict of Portsea Island, and Tom was still employed as a police constable.
Tom died at Portsea in 1865 [Death Index: Portsea 2b 269, 1865 (June)].
The 1871 Census finds his widow Naomi at Fairlight, living with her child Harriet (3) in the household of her widowed mother Harriet, now aged "76" and occupied as a grocer. Also there was Naomi's brother Thomas (2) Oliver and her step-brother Jesse Dawe.
Two weeks after this census, Harriet (3) developed convulsions and died. Naomi's mother Harriet evidently died at about the same time, aged "78", her death reference being identical to that of Harriet (3).
Naomi subsequently returned to Portsea and died there in 1877 [Death Index: Portsea 2b 302, 1877 (March)].